JNLR results: David McCullagh’s new radio show hitting right notes – but 2fm suffers ‘tough’ quarter | Irish Independent
Flor Lynch
David McCullagh’s new radio show hitting right notes – but 2fm suffers ‘tough’ JNLR quarter
RTÉ's David McCullagh’s show is now the second most-popular show on Irish radio, just three months into gigPat Kenny exits his weekday show on a high, adding 10,000 listeners to his show to stand at 206,000No major changes to Liveline listenership since last resultsIn an interesting twist, RTÉ’s Lyric FM has been slowly gaining listeners over the past while
The first report since Radio 1’s biggest shake-up in 25 years reveals McCullagh’s show is now the second most-popular show on Irish radio
Although it is still early days, RTÉ’s David McCullagh appears to have hit the ground running with his new ‘Today’ show.
Latest figures from the Joint National Listenership Survey (JNLR’s) reveal an average listenership of 440,000 for his 9-11am Radio 1 show.
The first report since Radio 1’s biggest shake-up in 25 years reveals McCullagh’s show is now the second most-popular show on Irish radio.
And Pat Kenny has exited his weekday show on a high, adding 10,000 listeners to his show to stand at 206,000.
This means former RTÉ anchor Claire Byrne has inherited a very strong slot after she took up the reins this month.
At lunchtime, News at One stands at 279,000, a slight drop of 5,000.
However, its sister station of 2fm tells a different story, with a drop in many of its shows and the results being described by RTÉ as a “tough book”.
RTÉ has said the latest report only covers part of its revamped schedule, namely October, November and December 2025. Its share of the listenership market has gone from 20.1pc up to 20.3pc.
The new schedule kicked off on November 10 following the recent departures of Byrne, Ray D’Arcy and Joe Duffy.
Its flagship show ‘Morning Ireland’ also had a presenter shake-up with the addition of Sarah McInerney and Justin McCarthy to the team.
The programme is holding strong with a listenership of 467,000, a drop of 4,000 from the previous survey three months ago. It remains the most popular show on Irish radio.
Oliver Callan’s new 11am-1pm show had an average listenership of 308,000.
Although now in a different time slot, Oliver Callan’s latest results in November 2025, showed that the Monaghan man last held 347,000 listeners for his 9-10am slot.
Former ‘Newstalk’ anchor Kieran Cuddihy appears to be hitting the right notes on ‘Liveline’ after the departure of Duffy. The slot had seen a downward slump in recent months but he has started rebuilding its audience, gaining 1,000 more to bring it to 280,000.
Louise Duffy’s new 3-4pm show has a listenership of 158,000 while ‘Drivetime’, fronted by Katie Hannon and Colm Ó’Mongáin stands at 218,000.
The new addition to the schedule ‘Inside Sport’, presented by Marie Crowe and Jacqui Hurley from 6-7pm, has a tally of 92,000
When it comes to the weekends, Brendan O’Connor is holding steady with his popular show. His Saturday slot has gained 10,000 to stand at 429,000 while his Sunday show had a slight drop of 9,000 to come to 418,000.
‘Sunday with Miriam’ is performing very strongly, gaining 4,000 more to stand at 341,000. Saturday’s ‘Playback’, fronted by Sinéad Mooney, is also doing well with 349,000 listeners, down 6,000 from the last survey.
On 2fm, the ‘Breakfast’ show is down 10,000 to stand at 121,000. ‘Morning with Laura Fox’ has lost 5,000 listeners to stand at 120,000. Tracy Clifford’s lunchtime show, which marked its 10th anniversary recently, had a slight drop of 6,000 but is still at 105,000. ‘Drive with Demi & Mikey’ has bucked the trend, adding 2,000 listeners to come to 126,000.
In an interesting twist, RTÉ’s Lyric FM has been slowly gaining listeners over the past while. Its listenership share now stands at 6.1pc, up 3pc while Marty Whelan’s morning show has 77,000 listeners.
With the music station since 2009, he was “absolutely delighted” with the results, especially as it shares a time slot with ‘Morning Ireland.’
“People need some light relief. We can talk about (Peter) Mandelson until we’re blue in the face. But there is a limit where you go, ‘Please give me some Puccini and let it be.’ One minute you’re playing music from 1850 and the next, it’s CMAT. I just love it,” he said.
In the independent commercial sector, Newstalk has had some mixed results. Newstalk Breakfast, now anchored by Anton Savage, has a listenership of 158,000, a slight drop of 3,000 since the last report.
Andrea Gilligan on Lunchtime Live has a listenership of 109,000, down 6,000, while Moncrieff is now at 92,000, a drop of 5,000. When it comes to ‘The Hard Shoulder, fronted by Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman, the slot stands at 149,000, down 2,000.
Anton Savage’s Saturday show is a huge success story for the station. He has added 18,000 more listeners to the slot to come to 164,000, putting Pat Kenny in a strong position when he takes over next month.
For his Sunday show, Anton saw a small drop of 5,000 listeners to bring his slot to 124,000.
Newstalk Managing Editor Eric Moylan said it has had “a really strong start to our updated schedule”.
Over on Today FM, the Ian Dempsey Breakfast show is continuing to win over audiences. The veteran presenter has added 6,000 to his slot, up 6,000 to stand at 224,000
Dave Moore’s show is down 1,000 to come to 203,000 while Louise Cantillon’s lunchtime show is up 1,000 to 130,000. Ray Foley has added 3,000 listeners to his programme to stand at 159,000. Matt Cooper saw no fluctuation in his ‘Last Word’ listenership and remains the same at 184,000.
When it comes to weekends on Today FM, Alison Curtis’ show on Saturday has seen a jump of 11,000 to stand at 188,000
Her Sunday show has dropped 19,000 to come to 148,000.
Flor Lynch
I predict that for the next quarter, there'll be a sizeable drop in listenership for Today With David McCullagh, because of the Claire Byrne Show over on NewsTalk. Claire really has a radio voice, a radio vibe. DMcC doesn't have either. CB transferring to NewsTalk only a few months after leaving RTÉ was smart.
Katie Hannon isn't suited to the fast-paced Drivetime current affairs vibe, hard though she tries.
- Some presenters just aren't suited to radio - it might be their voice, or their diction. RTÉ Radio is now more threadbare than it's been for many years, decades even.
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On 12 Feb 2026, at 23:59, Flor Lynch <flor...@iol.ie> wrote:
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